This course covers the critical developments of twentieth and twenty-first century Europe, in particular the consolidation of democracy in European countries. It deals with the legacy of the two world wars, Nazism, Stalinism, the Cold War, colonialism and decolonization, the collapse of Communism and the re-unification of Europe, the birth and development of the European Community, the creation of the welfare state, the challenges confronting the European Union (immigration, enlargement, political institutions, military role, and the single currency), and the varieties of democratic institutions in Europe.